There were no parliamentary questions, no summary proceedings, no invading anti-terrorist units. But it could have just happened.
Because what was that fluttering on the stage of the Nijmegen concert hall Doornroosje on Friday evening during the Soulcrusher metal festival? In front of a bass amplifier on setting eleven, a black-red-white flag fluttered wildly up and down as if the wind was blowing at force twelve. But it was really the decibels that made the cotton bulge.
Inscription: ‘ANTIFASCHIST ACTION’. Antifa, that covert movement that (according to all experts it is not a movement at all, but still) has been declared an outlaw by the majority of parliament because it *checks notes* is against fascism.” “The world is currently fucked up,” singer Joost Vervoort aptly summarized. “The only way to deal with that is a lot of anger, sadness and fear.”
Leave that to his band Terzij de Horde. The quintet, named after a verse by poet Hendrik Marsman (‘away from the masses’), makes vitalistic black metal and presented its third album in Nijmegen. Our Breath Is Not Ours Alone. Grand and compelling, the collective blows away all the rage and desperation in complex screeching arrangements over which Vervoort lets out his gritty screeching cannonades with a throat that can sandblast. The performance at Soulcrusher was a punishment and purification at the same time, like a viciously lashing hail storm that refreshes you, makes you glow afterward and… makes flags flutter.
The fact that such avant-garde acts are euphorically applauded in a sold-out hall proves that contemporary metal fans appreciate the enormous diversity of progressive festivals such as Soulcrusher and Roadburn (in Tilburg). But where Roadburn increasingly seeks ‘hardness’ in other genres (from tormented singer-songwriters to disruptive dance), Soulcrusher seems to dig deeper for even more decibels.
Three songs in an hour
This choice also leads to an extremely broad palette of sonic adventure: from the virtuoso prog symphonies of Blood Incantation to the sucking sludge of Wren or stunningly complicated mathcore of Guiltless. Without exchanging a single word, Bongripper crushed everyone with top-heavy, instrumental doom. The ultra-slow foursome from Chicago paved Nijmegen with thick layers of languid stoner riffs. Completely true to their own motto – the lower and slower, the better – they played three songs in one hour, including crowd favorite with the corny stoner title (see also the band name) ‘Reefer Sutherland’. Those who watched from the balcony saw a swaying mass of blissful, slowly swaying heads.
Darkher offered enchanting comfort with minimal resources. British singer Jayn Maiven, with wavy red hair that didn’t quite reach her knees, only needed one drum kit, one guitar and two vocal chords to make the room tremble. She sang over droning chords as a mournful siren and sometimes as a howling wolf – even when she attacked her guitar with a bow.
Those who wanted a laugh could go to Imperial Triumphant. Dressed in monk’s robes and hidden behind golden masks with goat horns, the New York trio provided a masterclass in chaos. In atonal jazz, dissonant funk and black metal, guitars sounded as if they had elastic strings rather than steel. It smelled of alcohol (after a bottle of champagne had been sprayed over the audience) and gunpowder (thanks to a bass solo played with a fireworks flare). During another strange costume party, Igorrr mixed just about every possible style imaginable. It is quite admirable that the baroque French frontman Gautier Serre mixed theatrical Rammstein metal with echoing soprano vocals and operatic kitsch. The only question is: why would you actually want that?
No matter how great the contrasts were, there was still an impact everywhere. In that respect, the permanent queue in front of the bar with specialty beer was illustrative. Everything was available, from wheat beer to Terzij de Horde’s black IPA, specially brewed for the festival. But you also had to wait patiently for your turn there.
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